The city's Principal Planner Mike Upston, returning to work just after the New Year holiday, got the news in a telephone call from the State Historic Preservation Office in Salem that the National Park Service in Washington D.C., had agreed to relist the bridge on the National Register of Historic Places. The Park Service maintains the register.

"It's really exciting," Upston said. "We've been talking about this for five or six months now."

Constructed in 1922 and officially known as the Antelope Creek Bridge for the creek it originally crossed, the bridge was moved to Eagle Point in 1987. It was originally listed on the National Register in 1979, but after the move and subsequent modifications that changed its historic character, the Park Service removed the bridge from the register on April 18, 1988.

"There were a couple of reasons why it was delisted, particularly because arched windows were cut out on both sides," Upston said.

"Since those years, the city has gone back and re-boarded it, painted it, and taken a number of steps to be sure it's as consistent as possible to its historic origin."

He said the city is in the process of ordering a bronze plaque commemorating the bridge's historic status and, within a few weeks it will be mounted on the bridge.